A printer is generally used for (re)producing text and images. Throughout this application, when reference is made to an image or images, this is to be interpreted as also explicitly referring to text (not only figures).
Different types of printers are known, amongst which laser printers, thermal printers, dot matrix printers and inkjet printers.
Inkjet printers use at least one printhead provided with a plurality of nozzles, from which ink droplets are fired or ejected onto the media (or fluid in the case of pre/post treatments); the printer controls the firing of ink from the nozzles such as to create on the media a pattern of dots corresponding to the desired image. Different types of ink and different types of media may be used. Depending on the type of ink used, the ink may need to be actively dried and/or cured after being printed on the print medium. For example, in apparatus using latex ink, the ink is to be dried and cured, optionally in two separate stages. Drying of the ink requires evaporation of water present in the ink. Curing herein may be understood as hardening of the polymers in an ink which leads to the formation of a continuous film. Curing generally requires higher temperatures, such that the continuous film may be formed and a chemical bond is formed with the print medium.
The print medium may e.g. be separate sheets of paper. Particularly in large format printers, the print medium may be a continuous web, which is fed from a feed roll mounted on a spindle arranged in the printing apparatus and on which several different plots are printed one after the other.
In some known applications, an impingement module is used for drying ink printed on a print medium. Air is heated in a heating chamber and blown onto the print medium through a plurality of holes in an impingement plate. One problem associated with this kind of impingement module is the required warm-up time. Also, the cool-down time after printing which is dependent on the thermal inertia of the heater may be relatively long. During cool-down, media movement that could cause a print medium portion to be heated and deformed should be avoided. Yet another problem is that the energy efficiency of such modules may be quite low.